HISTORY

Nakumbuka is a Kiswahili word that means I remember. Nakumbuka is the name given to the annual day of observance for the Maafa (The African slavery holocaust).

Jomo Nkombe, a Tanzanian who lived in Canada, pioneered the idea of Nakumbuka as a public ritual in 1990. From early youth, Nkombe was mindful of the slave trade that had been carried out from the East African Coast. On coming to North America as a student, he met Americans and West Indians of African Heritage and became drawn into the history of the Transatlantic slave trade from the West African Coast.

November 11 each year is observed as Veterans' Day in the USA (Remembrance Day in Canada). The English, French and Americans honour the Unknown Soldier; so Nkombe reasoned that we of African Heritage should also be honoring our unknown warriors who fell resisting slavery.

Observance of November 11 started as the anniversary of the Armistice, which was signed by the Allies and the Germans in 1918, ending World War I. In the early years following, Armistice Day was observed all over the world and particularly by the Anglo-Europeans in schools and churches and at the tombs of the Unknown Soldiers, where the Chief Executive or his representative placed a wreath. In many other communities, the American Legion was in charge of the observance, which included parades and religious services. At 11 A.M. all traffic stopped, in tribute to the dead, then volleys were fired from cannon and taps sounded.

November 11 has become a time to honor all those who had fought in various American wars, not just in World War I but servicemen of all America's wars. Although servicemen of African heritage lost their lives in the World Wars and subsequent imperialist wars Veterans Day or Remembrance Day did not resonate with people of African heritage. These wars were not pursued for the benefit of African liberation commemoration of them was not so meaningful for Black people the world over.

Nkombe's idea was to commemorate Africans who died in slave rebellions and resisting slavery on the same day 11th November that America and the rest of the world commemorated their dead. In 1990 Nkombe met with Charles 'Mende' Roach, a Canadian jurist born in Trinidad and requested him to take the idea to the World Pan African Movement which was holding a Conference in Lagos, Nigeria in 1991. At that conference it was resolved that the World Pan African Movement promote Nakumbuka specifically with the idea of raising consciousness of the Maafa (African slavery holocaust) in which many millions died. Nakumbuka was also tied into the idea of reparations for slavery. Among those who attended the Lagos Conference was an African American, Duane Bradford. Bradford promoted Nakumbuka in the United States and made the idea a reality beginning in 1994.

The World Pan African Movement had established Nakumbuka in the belief that persons observing it would do so in whatever form and with whatever rituals they choose to develop, so long as certain central themes are observed. The central theme is that those who perished resisting slavery whether they are known or unknown be remembered with honour.

In some Nakumbuka ceremonies some people honour personal ancestors and African American heroes of the 20th century; but if this is done, it should not take precedence over honoring the martyrs of the Maafa (African slavery holocaust).

The first Nakumbuka ceremonies in Canada were in the early Nineties in Toronto organized by Nkombe and Roach. It consisted of street processions symbolically called Bwagomoyo to Ujiji. This symbol memorialized the slave route from Bwagomoyo in the interior, to the slave trans-shipment point of Ujiji on the shores of what is now Tanzania. The participants regaled themselves in African clothing and some in slave garb with shackles. At the end of the processions there was the breaking of chains ceremony and the oath of Nakumbuka which involved a pledge for a lifelong struggle for the liberation of Africa and African people.

Part of the Nakumbuka ritual involves a call-and-response recitation of the names of ports from which enslaved Africans were taken away; participants say "Nakumbuka!" in response.

In 2003 February 20-21, Nakumbuka was celebrated for the first time in Jamaica when Basil 'Ku-Soonogo' Lopez introduced it there with the support of the faculty and administration of The Mico College in Kingston. That commemoration was qualitatively different as officialdom of the country was involved. The Governor General of the country participated in the procession.

The Maafa is the unique historical fact that binds together those of African heritage together. The aspiration of the Pan African Movement is to have Nakumbuka observed worldwide wherever people of Black African Heritage are found.